TechNet Top Questions - June 21, 1999

Article
12/22/2008

Greetings! Here we provide detailed answers to popular questions submitted to TechNet via the answer forums and feedback alias. TechNet's Lon Collins, Microsoft Support Professional, provides you with answers and tips that can help many of you working in the trenches to deploy, maintain and support Microsoft products.

This Week:

Remote Access Service

Numerous questions have been posted regarding problems with RAS. The most common issues mentioned are:

Clients not being authenticated in the Windows NT domain when dialing in via RAS
Callback not working
Problems with autodial
Dropped connections
Clients dialing in to RAS server OK, but not able to browse the domain
Modem problems
Security

What follows is a list of useful troubleshooting papers, KnowledgeBase articles, FAQs and planning papers. If you are having a particular problem with RAS, check out the sections below: RAS Server, RAS Client and Modem.

RAS Server

Windows NT Server Manuals:

MS Routing and Remote Access Service for Windows NT Server Administrator's Guide, Chapter 6 – Troubleshooting

Windows NT 4.0 FAQs: Dial-Up Networking and RAS Questions

Solving Problems with Dial-Up Networking (DUN) and Remote Access Service (RAS) is a troubleshooter that queries the user and offers some possible resolutions based upon the response.

Having problems pinging or connecting to computers across a router using the TCP/IP protocol while connected as a RAS client to a remote Windows NT 3.5x and 4.0 RAS server? Check out Troubleshooting TCP/IP LAN and RAS Routing Issues.

The Remote Access Service (RAS) Error Code List delivers what is promises.

RAS Client

How to Install and Configure Windows NT 4.0 Dial-Up Networking describes procedures to diagnose and fix problems when you are unable to dial out using your modem in Windows NT 4.0 with Dial-Up Networking (DUN).

Troubleshooting RAS Client Issues in Windows NT 4.0 provides steps to help you troubleshoot issues with the Remote Access Service (RAS) in Windows NT 4.0. It addresses issues that can occur when you use RAS to dial into another computer or an Internet service provider (ISP).

Modem

I recommend starting with Troubleshooting Modem Problems Under Windows NT 4.0.

Interrogating modem commands sent from the RAS client or server can be useful troubleshooting tools for diagnosing communications problems. Another good article, How to Capture Modem Commands in Windows NT 4.0, discusses how you can use the Device.log in Windows NT 4.0 to troubleshoot problems with Switch.inf and script files.

Troubleshooting RAS Problems and Using the DEVICE.LOG File provides information on capturing Windows NT 3.5x modem commands.

Windows NT Remote Access Server attempts to reset its serial ports when it detects that the phone line has been hung up. The server detects a disconnect when either Data Carrier Detect (DCD) or Data Set Ready (DSR) signals are dropped by the server's modem. Is this your concern? If so, read Windows NT RAS Server Port Reset.

How to Improve Data Transfers over RAS, RRAS, or Slow Links

Setting up and Configuring RAS

Check out this good overview, Setting Up RAS On NT 4.0.

Deploying RAS

MS Windows NT Server Remote Access Capacity Planning provides a comparison guide on estimating hardware requirements for Windows NT Server-based remote access servers. It also includes advice on using other tools to fine-tune the resulting choice.

RRAS Whitepaper is an overview of the current Routing and Remote Access Service on Windows NT 4.0 and a look ahead at what's coming in Windows 2000 (referred to as "Windows NT 5.0" in the paper).

Internet Connection Services For Microsoft RAS: Windows NT Options Pack FAQ

RAS/RRAS Deployment Roadmap

Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit, available via TechNet CD subscription.

Networking and RAS

Persistent Connections

Configuring network logon and persistent connections for Client for Microsoft Networks seems to be causing many of you pain. Fortunately, there are some great resources available, such as Windows 98 on Microsoft Networks, Chapter 16.

Here's a sample:

To configure how persistent connections are restored:

In Control Panel, double-click Network, and then double-click Client for Microsoft Networks in the list of network components.
To map the drive letters when you log on, without actually establishing a session for each persistent network connection, click Quick logon in the Network logon options area.

– Or –

To have Windows 98 verify each persistent network connection at startup by establishing a session for each persistent connection, click Logon and restore network connections.

With Quick logon, Windows 98 initializes data structures for mapping local drives and local printer ports to network resources, but Windows 98 does not attach to the network resource until the user tries to get access to the resources.

When you use Quick logon (the default), Windows 98 starts faster than when the actual connections are made during startup. However, the first time you try to access a network drive, it will take a little longer for the contents of that drive to appear.

Note: Quick logon requires password caching to function properly. If system policies are used to disable password caching, users cannot use Quick logon successfully with peer servers configured with share-level security.

Persistent Connection information is stored in the Registry in the following keys:

Win9x:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Network, Persistent

WinNT:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \WindowsNT \CurrentVersion \Network \Persistent Connections

Windows NT Event IDs and Windows 9.x Fatal Errors

I've been seeing a number of questions relate to receiving Windows NT Event IDs and Windows 9.x Exception Errors/General Protection Faults (GPFs). Understanding what these error messages mean will give you some idea about what to do next to fix the problem.

The complexity and cryptic nature of error messages has long been the bane of not only IT support Pros, but end users as well. The problem of cryptic, non-useful error messages is one of the issues that the product groups within Microsoft are working very hard on eliminating. On many occasions, Bill Gates has referenced this problem. For instance at Synergy '99, he said:

"Simplicity is a big, big goal for us, because as we get these machines to be more powerful, we can actually reduce the number of commands, certainly we can dramatically reduce the number of error messages that people see, and the cryptic nature of those things."

Read the entire text of Gates' remarks.

The following resources are good references that IT Pros supporting their users should keep handy.

Windows NT

Error Codes in Windows NT Part 1 of 2

Error Codes in Windows NT Part 2 of 2

Included in the Windows NT 4.0 Resource kit is a database of NT Event IDs and corresponding messages as they are displayed in Event Viewer. I find this very useful to keep handy.

Windows 9.x

What Are Windows 95/98 Fatal Exception Errors

Causes of General Protection Faults

The Windows 95 Resource Kit also includes troubleshooting material. It's available via TechNet CD subscription or from Microsoft Press.

Here are some quick tips for troubleshooting fatal exceptions in Win9x:

A great way to obtain additional information is to query the KnowledgeBase using the specific filename that appears to be causing the problem. Another tactic for querying the KnowledgeBase is to query on the error number or the exact text of the error message that you receive. If querying using the exact text does not return results, start reducing the amount of text you use to query.

And speaking of the KnowledgeBase, the latest Inside Microsoft column (aka "The Mole") includes some helpful search tips regarding use of keywords.

Please check back and read my next column on July 5th. Until then, here's wishing you stress-free computing.

Devon

Illustration by Elizabeth Anderson, MSN Staff